Showing posts with label Notre Dame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Notre Dame. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Two of the best places (Days 20 & 21)

Teresa, me, and Guillaume ready for the blind tasting!
On Tuesday afternoon, CEA had a blind tasting of French food for us.  It was a lot of fun.  I learned that I am terrible at guessing what I'm eating!  We tried céleri rémoulade, rillettes du mans, pruneaux d'agen (prunes stuffed with goat cheese, sounds so weird but somehow it was really good!), oeufs de lompe, salade piémontaise, and crème de marron (amazing!).  It was a lot of fun and such a great idea!
crab with fig jam inside
oeufs de lomp

rillettes du mans
céleri rémoulade
tuna on crackers
pruneaux d'agen
salade piémontaise
crème de marron
On our way home from the tasting, my roommate Teresa and I encountered a creepy lady on the metro!  Right before we got off, a lady got my attention and started speaking in French.  I told her I didn't speak French, and she asked (in English), "Could you show me what line this is," pointing to a map of the metro that was in her hand.  I pointed it out and then she said "OK.  I am writing a book and I want you to remember this moment."  I was a little creeped out.  When Teresa and I got off of the train, she said the woman had said something to her as well while she stood next to her, but that when she said it in French, it wasn't the same as when she asked in English.  Creepy!

ice cream
Opéra Garnier
We walked to rue Mouffetard, a street close to our apartment, to get ice cream at Gelati d'Alberto.  They make the ice cream look like a flower on the cone.


Today (Wednesday) I went to the Opéra Garnier, the theater that inspired The Phantom of the Opera.  It is officially one of my favorite places in Paris.  It was stunning!
Opéra Garnier

Opéra Garnier: inside the theatre

Opéra Garnier


Opéra Garnier
Opéra Garnier

Opéra Garnier


fountain at Place du Châtelet
Hôtel de Ville
Sacré Coeur on the hill seen from one of the towers of Notre Dame
View from the top of Notre Dame


View from the top of Notre Dame, La Défense on the horizon
From there, I went to Place du Châtelet and saw the outside of Hôtel de Ville.  Since I was so close to Notre Dame at this point, I decided to go ahead and get in line to climb the tower.  AWESOME!  Discovered another favorite!  Loved it and took way, way too many pictures!  I love good views of cities!  I was able to point out the big buildings that I have seen, and pinpoint others that I haven't been to.

Around 10:00 pm, Teresa and I went out to Pont Neuf so I could take some pictures.
The view from Pont Neuf





Pont Neuf (New Bridge, even though it's the city's oldest!)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Notre Dame/The Islands (day 4)

Notre Dame: the back side view, pretty different!
Today (Sunday) my roommate and I went to the international service at Notre Dame.  Wow!  That place is incredible.  Something that I didn’t expect when I walked in though was the smell!  It had such a strong musty/old scent!  Anyway.  It was great.  And almost a little scary when the organ played, and was very beautiful to hear people sing during the service.   

Ste.-Chapelle
Afterwards we looked around then went outside and started a walking tour of the islands (Île de la cité where Notre Dame is and Île St.-Louis) that was listed in my tour book (National Geographic Traveler – Paris).

Ste.-Chapelle
Thanks to the beautiful pictures in my tour book, we decided to get tickets to go inside of Ste. Chapelle.  If you ever go to Paris, GO to Ste. Chapelle!  It is a absolutely gorgeous chapel that has more stained glass than you can imagine.  My pictures don’t do it justice, you might want to Google it!

Ste.-Chapelle
After Ste. Chapelle, we continued our walk and saw a bird market, and then ended up on Île St.-Louis.  After seeing long lines out of many stores, we found out it was the hot spot for ice cream and sorbet.  We were trying to decide which line to join when I overheard someone say that a certain one was said to be the best and point across the street… so that’s where we went.  I had a cone with "raspberry with hint of rose" sorbet and "honey with nougat" ice cream.  The sorbet was pretty amazing, the rose flavor was so different!
Berthillon: great sorbet



Berthillon: the long line!
Notre Dame and a bridge where my roommate explained you leave a lock and make a wish